"Does Windows Phone need Google and its services to be successful? No. The fate of Windows Phone and its adoption in the marketplace does not rest in the hands of Google. Microsoft itself holds the key to Windows Phone becoming a successful platform, rapid evolution of its cloud services and integration with the rest of the MS eco system." Good editorial on Google killing AES support for consumers and how it affects Windows Phone, by WPCentral's Robert Brand.

Out of the two I find Google giving me better matches for my searches, sometimes Bing doesn't return anything relevant whatsoever. That said, ever since Google started second-guessing what I actually want I've noticed the relevance to my searches going down there, too.

Oh, how I sometimes wish I could just have a database-like search engine that does not try to second-guess my searches.